Jon Pain, chief conduct and regulatory affairs officer at RBS,
sent us the following statement:

"RBS has been very clear that GRG’s role was to protect the
bank's position, where possible by working with distressed
businesses to return them to financial health. In the
aftermath of the financial crisis we did not always meet our own
high standards and we let some of our SME customers down.

"We have already acknowledged that, in some areas, we could, and
should, have done better for SME customers. Specifically, we
could have managed the transition to GRG better and we could have
better explained to customers any changes to the prices or fees
we were charging. We also did not always handle customer
complaints well. As a result, a number of our customers did not
receive the level of service they should have done or,
importantly, that they would receive now.”

"It is important to remember the context of the time and the
impact of the financial crisis. In 2008 there was an
unprecedented increase in SMEs falling into financial distress
and the numbers moving into GRG increased by over 400%.We should
have coped better but, nevertheless, between 2011-2013, GRG
advanced over £100 million of new lending to SMEs and
successfully restructured thousands of SMEs. In doing so it
safeguarded tens of thousands of jobs.

"These were incredibly difficult times for the bank and the wider
economy. Between 2008 – 2013, RBS lost more than £2bn from
lending to SME customers. The bank itself was in a precarious
position and required extensive Government support.

"Since that time, RBS has become a different bank and significant
structural and cultural changes have been put in place, including
in how we deal with customers in financial distress. We continue
to learn the lessons of the past and seek to do better for our
customers. RBS is a fundamentally different institution today as
a result.

"Despite a number of investigations that involved a detailed
review of all the evidence, including reviewing millions of pages
of documents, we have seen nothing to support the allegations
that the bank artificially distressed otherwise viable SME
businesses or deliberately caused them to fail. In regard to the
wider allegations raised, we have found no evidence that the bank
either inappropriately targeted such businesses to transfer them
to GRG or drove them to insolvency. Nor did it buy their assets
at a lower than market price.

"The FCA review of the treatment of SME customers in GRG remains
ongoing. It would not be appropriate to comment further on that
review until the FCA has published its conclusions."